Demolition day

5th September 2025

Demolition day was in the diary for today but the demo man finished his job early and, to be fair, with our nod of approval turned up yesterday with his bag of tools. Big tools, with electric cables , heavy shafts and pointy ends. They looked dangerous and perfectly designed for the job. Project “our ensuite” has started.

We are not particularly fancy people but knew the minute we bought Pollards, we would at some point have to tackle the ensuite and in particular the huge, fancy, jet packed, spa tub …. In this climate, when you have a pool under the trees to soak in, when water is a precious commodity… bonkers.

Apart from the tub the rest of the bathroom is ok and with a few tweaks will be lovely. The sinks are set into a countertop that is too low, and the cupboard doors have a horrid plastic lattice that the millipedes love. The taps are corroded and the bidet must go. We are working with what we have and most importantly need a proper shower. In anticipation we go shopping. We need a shower and two sets of taps, now known as faucets. Avid readers will recall the post about taps…. If you have not read “Tap Dance” from March this year, or even if you have, I suggest you re-read this. Looking back on it we were still very new to the game and now a bit more experienced we have low expectations. This was a good thing.

First step was to choose some tiles for the shower floor. Same mantra ….keep it simple, what’s in stock. Result, quite an easy and quick decision. We very much bore in mind the advice from some good friends, that the specially designed non slip shower tiles are a nightmare to clean. Even the man in the tile shop confirmed that. We even looked at a nice rainwater shower unit in the bathroom section of the tile shop. Yes they had it in stock. Ok it was on the pricey side, and it was the first one we looked at so we returned to said shop of “Tap Dance” fame.

There were several units that we liked, but they had nothing ….nothing in stock apart from black ones. Then on to taps, sorry faucets … again they had black … we really could not stomach black. However we were reassured that they had just received a large shipment which was in the stock room but not uploaded to the system. Yes, our preferred shower was in the shipment in the finish we liked. No, we could not reserve anything, but yes, he would sort out a quote for the 4 items, (1 shower unit in spotless stainless steel, two sets of faucets that were not the same design as the shower because they had “inviting handles” but in the same finish so should look ok and a shower drain). He would then call us when they were unpacked and available to buy. (No we were not convinced either, but we ran with it) Oh hang on the drain is in stock…. Out comes the credit card … we will have that one now. Before you even ask … no .. the shower with the “inviting handles” was not available to match the taps ……. no of course not.

Wait for it …… correct …..no phone call. We put in another visit. I’m sure you have guessed where I’m going …..there were no taps…. Sorry faucets … or shower unit in the shipment and the next one is coming in on 19th September……at this stage we were 5 days before demolition day ….

The sensible decision…. The shower in the tile shop is now put aside for us. The faucets, well they are a work in progress. Trying to find spotless stainless steel is a search too far. Chrome it is.

So the demolition is progressing, the network of taps under the bath, coming from the outside, or the wall or the sink is confusing at best. Old pipes, new pipes, hot pipes, cold pipes, capped off pipes and very much alive pipes.

Demo man had an unintended hot shower when one tap objected to being moved out of the way of his pointy tool. Luckily the water went straight though the roof hatch into the bathroom below, but not only that, straight into the bath. Happy days. Minimal mopping required from the ex-third under-gardener who is also a dab hand at wielding a mop. This was followed shortly after by a cold shower for us while examining layout of the pipes.

In amongst all the chaos (and mopping), I’m outside looking up at the roof where Richard is trying to turn off the water feed to the solar panels and I turn round to realise we have disturbed one of the neighbours who has pitched up to complain. How she got in remains a mystery!!! Never a dull moment

We all downed tools at 5pm to hot foot it to Kensington Oval to watch Guyana demolish Barbados at the cricket. What a day.

Demolition day two tomorrow.